Married In Ohio » Kids/Family http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog The life and times of a happily married couple in Ohio. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:53:24 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Something From Nothing http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/08/29/something-from-nothing/ http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/08/29/something-from-nothing/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 01:00:25 +0000 Midwestern City Boy http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/08/29/something-from-nothing/ We went and watched The Girl play soccer this past weekend. She is playing really well. All of the hard work that she put in this summer really showed. She still has room for improvement, as with any athlete; but, she’s a better player at the start of her sophomore year than she was at the end of her freshman season. And she still has the ability to make something out of nothing i.e. she can make a play when there really isn’t anything there. She definitely embodies the “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight it’s the size of the fight in the dog” philosophy. (I wonder where she got it from?)

]]> http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/08/29/something-from-nothing/feed/ 2 School’s (Half) Out For Summer http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/05/02/schools-half-out-for-summer/ http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/05/02/schools-half-out-for-summer/#comments Tue, 03 May 2011 00:23:42 +0000 Midwestern City Boy http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/05/02/schools-half-out-for-summer/ It was a long drive to make in just one day; but, I retrieved The Boy for the summer on Saturday. We were concerned that all of his stuff might not fit on the SUV; however, we did not have any problems getting every loaded. I could not see out of the back which made the drive home somewhat stressful; but I still made good time despite not being able to maneuver like I am accustomed too.

It drinks gas; but having an SUV is useful although California Girl and l have almost reached the point where we should think about downsizing vehicles. The Boy just finished his third year and we don’t need as much carrying capacity for The Girl since she’ll be driving another vehicle (assuming that she keeps her grades up).

The Girl had a longer winter break than The Boy so she still has a few more weeks of school; but we’re making plans to retrieve her and all of her stuff after finals. California Girl and I aren’t yet comfortable with her driving so far in such an old vehicle; but it is convenient. She brought a lot of clothes and shoes with her when she came home for Easter; so we’ll just need to carry the big stuff.

It won’t seem quite like summer until both kids are out of school and the house sounds “normal” again; but, despite the interminable rain, winter is finally becoming a memory.

]]> http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/05/02/schools-half-out-for-summer/feed/ 4 Empty Nesters Once Again http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/01/18/empty-nesters-once-again/ http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/01/18/empty-nesters-once-again/#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 04:50:12 +0000 Midwestern City Boy http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/01/18/empty-nesters-once-again/ After a four week Christmas break, The Girl has gone back to school which means that California Girl and I are empty nesters once again. The house is much, much quieter than it was a few days ago. We had partially adjusted to the change last fall; but, after a month like old times, we are beginning the process anew. It will be doubly difficult this time. Party because of the winter blahs that we always seem to get in February; and partly because we’ll be around the house a lot more since we won’t be making as any road trips to watch games likes we did in the fall. We still keep in touch; but there is no substitute for being there.

]]> http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/01/18/empty-nesters-once-again/feed/ 0 2010 A Year In Review http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/01/03/2010-a-year-in-review/ http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/01/03/2010-a-year-in-review/#comments Mon, 03 Jan 2011 23:00:15 +0000 Midwestern City Boy http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/01/03/2010-a-year-in-review/ January
Had an occasion to do the Snoopy Dance because of something that happened at work.
Took a cool photograph of California Girl with the flowers she received at The Girl’s last senior night.

We reviewed the proofs of The Girl’s senior photographs and made our selections. It was a bit discomforting how rapidly her high school days were winding down.

February
Commemorated the fifth anniversary of MarriedInOhio.Com.
MarriedInOhio.Com went over 2,500,000 visitors.
Took some neat photographs for Two For Tuesday and Half Nekkid Thursday in the aftermath of a huge snowstorm we had.

March
The Girl had an epiphany and decided where she wanted to attend college. It hadn’t really started to sink in how different things were going to be without any kids around.
Decided to see if I could hold up a hat with no hands for Two For Tuesday.

Worked on a special project for California Girl that kept me busy in the evenings. We still found time for our weekly photo session.

April
Changed the image in the “About Us” area of our sidebar. We haven’t changed much wanted to create a new one since the photograph was many years old. We posted the candidates that we were considering for Half Nekkid Thursday.

Went on a 900 mile round road trip with The Girl for an out of state soccer tournament. Then two weeks later, watched The Girl win the last trophy of her club soccer career.

May
Celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. Went out to eat at our favorite restaurant. Posted a photo from our anniversary dinner for Two For Tuesday.

The Girl graduated high school. Then the next day, she registered for classes in the fall and got her college ID.
Got a new camera. Took nekkid photographs of ourselves to test it out.

June
Wore boxing gloves in one of our more interesting Two For Tuesday posts.
The swimming pool is still where we retreat when things aren’t going as well as we would like in the real world.
For Half Nekkid Thursday we did a documentary of our bedcam setup.

July
Created and published our favorite HNT photo post of the year.
Practiced being empty nesters. Posted a NSFW tour of our home for Two For Tuesday culminating with a grand finale in the study for Half Nekkid Thursday.

Photographed and posted a lot of pictures of California Girl in a bikini showing her summer tan lines for Two For Tuesday and HNT.

August
Finally got an Android smartphone. California Girl got a Droid too. We should have upgraded years ago!
Installed a special, mobile friendly theme for Androids and iPhones.
Took both kids to school and officially became empty nesters. Posted about our first pizza night without kids for Two For Tuesday.

September
Posted some cool sexting photographs for Half Nekkid Thursday.

Watched The Girl play soccer at the next level in college. We’re not in Kansan any more, they play rough.
Got another new camera. Again took some NSFW photographs of ourselves to test it.

October
Discovered that I still own a hairbrush despite not needing to use one in years.
Went to Florida for vacation. Posted some photos from our trip for Two For Tuesday and Half Nekkid Thursday.

Added a new hard drive to the server. The old one was getting filled up since we have posted so many pictures over the years.

November
Took another “instant favorite” photograph of California Girl.
California Girl changed the color of her hair. Heather was the first person to notice.

Decorated the Christmas tree on the Saturday after Thanksgiving now that both kids are in school. Posted a NSFW Christmas card style photo for Two For Tuesday.

December
Made an animated slide show of some of our recent photographs using JavaScript.

Click here to stop the animation. We also posted a more traditional slide show for our Christmas tree Half Nekkid Thursday.

Get Adobe Flash player to see this video.

California Girl and I both got new glasses. We featured them in an artistic Two For Tuesday post.

Created our and posted first high definition video for Two For Tuesday. It was also our first movie in FLV format.

Get Adobe Flash player to see this video.

MarriedInOhio.Com went over 3,000,000 visitors, a milestone we noted in our Christmas Wish Half Nekkid Thursday post. It’s definitely not 2005 anymore so we removed our hit counter widget.

]]> http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2011/01/03/2010-a-year-in-review/feed/ 2 Full House http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/12/18/full-house/ http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/12/18/full-house/#comments Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:10:17 +0000 Midwestern City Boy http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/12/18/full-house/ It took 16 hours of driving but both kids are home for Christmas break. The Girl is busy playing with the new Droid that she received as an early Christmas present. (Motorola couldn’t fix the one that I sent in for repair so they sent me a new one; but I still decided to keep the “loaner” that I was using and not return it to the store.) The Boy is sleeping since he had many late nights preparing for finals inkling his last one where he answered every single question correctly. We won’t know for sure until grades are posted; but it appears very likely that both kids will be on the dean’s list! We’ve still got some Christmas shopping to do; but, the holiday is off to a very good start.

]]> http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/12/18/full-house/feed/ 2 4½ Day Weekend http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/11/23/4-12-day-weekend/ http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/11/23/4-12-day-weekend/#comments Wed, 24 Nov 2010 04:25:23 +0000 Midwestern City Boy http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/11/23/4-12-day-weekend/ We’re not home alone, which, after three months of being empty nesters, is a welcome change. As always, I’ve got some work to finish up; so I’ll be starting Thanksgiving Break a day later than everyone else; but I plan to start the 4½ 4¾ day weekend as soon as I can. Times like this where all four of us are in the same place don’t happen too often anymore so we’re going to enjoy it.

P.S. We planed ahead and had our photo session on Monday. We intend to edit and publish the photos we took on Wednesday and Thursday.

]]> http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/11/23/4-12-day-weekend/feed/ 6 We’re Not In Kansas Anymore http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/09/14/were-not-in-kansas-anymore/ http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/09/14/were-not-in-kansas-anymore/#comments Tue, 14 Sep 2010 10:00:57 +0000 Midwestern City Boy http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/09/14/were-not-in-kansas-anymore/ We watched The Girl play soccer on Saturday. College girls play rough! We knew intellectually that her games would be more physical; but it was still a different experience watching our daughter play a college game. We’ve watched many games in person and on television including the Womens World Cup; but it’s not the same as when it’s your kid getting knocked around. It’s not all one sided; The Girl does her fair share of running people over and definitely gets her money’s worth on fouls she commits. Still, I’m amazed at how much the definition of a foul has changed. And 90 minutes with minimal substitutions is a long time to play soccer. Probably the strangest thing is the fact that she can still do her thing against bigger, faster girls. I know that she wouldn’t have been recruited if the coaches didn’t think that she could compete; but I’m amazed at how well she’s playing against much tougher competition; especially for a freshman. When she first got started as a little girl with her size 3 ball, who would have thought that she would still be stepping between the lines ten years later.

]]> http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/09/14/were-not-in-kansas-anymore/feed/ 4 The Next Level http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/09/05/the-next-level/ http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/09/05/the-next-level/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 23:35:31 +0000 Midwestern City Boy http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/09/05/the-next-level/ We didn’t post about it this past spring when she signed her letter of intent but The Girl is playing soccer in college. We always knew that she had enough athletic ability to play at the next level if she worked hard and it was great to see her learn what she could accomplish with persistence and hard work. Being a good athlete is her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. Sometimes, particularly when she was younger, she would rely more on her will to win and athletic ability and not focus as much on improving her skills; ignoring the fact that there’s always a bigger, faster girl.

The Girl has really come a long way since her younger days. She has worked really hard the past few years especially this summer. She takes being a college athlete on scholarship very seriously. The college is a great fit for her. It’s a small school; but offers the academic program she wants, plus she gets to play soccer. And, and, and someone besides California Girl and I are paying for it.

As parents, it’s great to hear/see her introduced. We’re not involved with things like we were with her high school or club teams so it’s not like old times; but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. (No more fundraisers, for example.) She’s still playing a game that she loves. And playing as a freshman (as opposed to watching from the sidelines) is HUGE. I’m not sure she realizes how big of an accomplishment that is. She’s always played when she was a kid; but now the other players are grown women. I know that technically she’s “grown” too; but, to us, she’s still a kid. And there are some really big women running around out there. We were there from the beginning. It’s amazing to look at her now!

]]> http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/09/05/the-next-level/feed/ 12 Empty Nesters http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/08/29/empty-nesters/ http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/08/29/empty-nesters/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:00:24 +0000 Midwestern City Boy http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/08/29/empty-nesters/ We took The Boy back to school so California Girl and I are officially “empty nesters”. I never realized how much I talked to and interacted with the kids until now. The house is really, really quiet. The Girl called earlier today just to check in. We text and FB chat a lot but it was nice to hear her voice. She had a lot of homework; but was trying to stay on top of it which I think is good. She’s certainly matured a lot over the past year. I know what she can take care of herself; but I still worry about her. She used to call me every single day when she got out of school and let me know what she was doing, where she was going, and who she was with. It was one of the rules unless she was going straight home which she seldom never did. Now she’s making her own rules. I just hope that the “wisdom” I tried to teach her is enough.

]]> http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/08/29/empty-nesters/feed/ 8 A Freshman Again http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/08/24/a-freshman-again/ http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/08/24/a-freshman-again/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:50:05 +0000 Midwestern City Boy http://www.marriedinohio.com/blog/2010/08/24/a-freshman-again/ Sunday was the last time that the “Fab Four” will be together for a while. The Girl will start classes soon and orientation has already started.  It’s hard for us to believe that we have TWO kids in college. It doesn’t seem that long ago that The Boy was starting high elementary school. I know that they’re “grown”. After all, I do things like go to boxing class with them. But, to me, she’ll always be that little girl who years ago when we were having a series of heavy snowstorms that were cancelling school and work said with such excitement that “There’s snow outside almost every day Daddy!”

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